1,980 Armenian nationals reside in Georgia - study

PanARMENIAN.Net - Around 41,000 Georgians currently live in Armenia against the 1,980 Armenian nationals residing in the neighboring country, giving support to the perception of many people that in the last years, Georgia’s economic fortunes worsened, a study carried out by The Financial revealed.

Analyzing the gravity model of migration, The Financial says Georgia was one of the richest republics in the Soviet Union, and so, in 1990, very few Georgians – even among those with Armenian background – had reasons to emigrate to Armenia.

The gravity model of migration is a model in urban geography derived from Newton's law of gravity, and used to predict the degree of interaction between two places. The model can be used to estimate traffic flow; migration between two areas; and the number of people likely to use one central place.

“Less than 2,000 Georgians resided in their southern neighbor country in 1990. The subsequent failure of Shevardnadze (Eduard Shevardnadze, the 2nd president of Georgia - editor’s note) is nicely illustrated by the migration development in the years that followed: by 1995, almost 28,000 Georgians had moved to Armenia, and in the year 2000, this number stood at 47,000,” the publication says.

“When the reformers took over in Georgia, many of these people decided to return to their home country. By 2005, there were only 31,000 Georgians left in Armenia, and by 2010, this number had gone down to 26,000. Now we are back to 41,000, giving support to the perception of many people that in the last years, Georgia’s economic fortunes worsened.

On the other hand, there were 1,980 Armenian nationals residing in Georgia in 2015 against the almost 41,000 Georgians in Armenia.

Dwelling upon the authenticity of the figures provided above, The Financial cites the Armenian statistical office Armstat as saying that wages are slightly higher in Armenia. In 2014, the average wage was 788.5 lari (apx. $282) in Georgia and 818 lari (apx. $303) in Armenia (converted by the official rate of the Central Bank of Armenia).

“These numbers do not conflict with the fact that most sources state a slightly higher nominal per capita GDP for Georgia,” it goes on to say.

“A more plausible explanation might be that many of the Georgians in Armenia are in fact ethnic Armenians who moved to Armenia in the 1990’s for good, integrated in the Armenian society and just did not return their Georgian citizenships. They would still be counted as Georgian migrants living in Armenia, while in fact they are Armenians living in Armenia who are essentially culturally and economically indistinguishable from their compatriots.”